Lola, a basset hound, finally found a home about a week ago.

With that adoption, nine of the 23 dogs rescued from a southeastern North Dakota farm last month have found homes.

They were placed through Prairie Paws Rescue, a Jamestown group that took the dogs in after they were found to be neglected and malnourished at a farm in Cogswell.

The remaining dogs are at the Central Dakota Humane Society, where they are being nursed back to health and prepared for adoption.

"They're on their way to being healthy, but we have had to put a lot of money into them," said humane society president Cameo Skager. "A couple of them will probably be ready in the next few weeks."

Skager said the humane society has had to nurse them back to health after some were so starved they had ribs showing. They had to de-worm others and even found a few pregnant, she said.

The humane society got the dogs in roughest shape while Prairie Paws Rescue - a volunteer group of 10 that houses the dogs in their homes - got the healthier ones.

Formed in May, the group has also participated in dog rescue missions to Missouri - a state that is rife with so-called "puppy mills" because of lax state regulation.

Kaye John, president of Prairie Paws Rescue, said her group has also managed to find homes for 22 dogs they rescued from Missouri this spring.

On Saturday, the group's volunteers were headed back to Marshall, Mo., to get 17 dogs from a clinic in the small mid-Missouri town. The clinic serves as a temporary haven and recovery center for mis-treated dogs from puppy mills accross the Show Me State.

John said the dogs her group is bringing back vary from tiny Shih Tzu puppies to Great Danes that weigh in over 100 lbs.

But she said they all have one thing in common: the need for a loving home.

(Tribune reporter Scott Larkin contributed to this report. Reach reporter Jonathan Rivoli at 223-8482 or jonathan.rivoli@;bismarcktribune.com.)